NYYRIKKI Makes Coaching Additions

Today we are pleased to announce two new additions to the NYYRIKKI coaching team.

The Overwatch team overall have performed well despite a couple of unfortunate performances in their all-important Open Division matches. After considerable time analysing and discussing what the problems could be, we came to the conclusion that a sports psychologist could be something to come in and give the players a fresh approach where they need it. This move hopes to improve ingame mentality and calmer, more calculated decision making. We are happy to announce Aleksanteri “ATL” Leinonen as our official Mental Performance Coach.

Aleksanteri “ATL” Leinonen statement:

“I’m excited to join NYYRIKKI Esports! During my try out in the past few weeks I was surprised by the level of professionalism in the organization and how well everything was handled. Also, ever since I started work with some of the players I’ve been constantly impressed by their work ethic and motivation. All in all I’m looking forward to seeing the preparation and improvement of everyone during this off season and I have no doubt we will come back stronger for next season of Open Division.”

Aleksanteri has experience as a basketball coach but importantly has a Bachelors in Exercise Science and is currently studying for a Professional Coaching Qualification. Having also worked with professional coaches, he has much needed experience to share with the players in their efforts to improve and take themselves to the next level.

NYYRIKKI Overwatch Manager Sami Ferm had this to say

“Aleksanteri is one of the most experienced esports coaches in the whole of Finland with the background on the traditional sport coaching. Aleksanteri will be joining NYYRIKKI as a Mental Performance Coach as this is the next step for us as an organisation to provide as much support and to our players as possible. “

In Counter-Strike we had a good ESEA season and some good wins but we didn’t manage to progress further in the playoffs to qualify for Mountain Dew League, which was our goal. Since April we have had many end of season discussions about what we can offer the players to help them progress. As well as addressing a few areas within the team, we are excited to announce Lauri “NiNLeX” Vanhanen as our CS:GO Coach. Lauri “NiNLeX” Vanhanen statement:

“I’m grateful for this opportunity to work as a CSGO coach in NYYRIKKI organization. Nyyrikki has risen fast as a notable organization and brand in Finnish esports and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.I have been working with the team for few weeks already, there is much more to be done, but I believe we are on a right track.Our main focus right now is on our ESEA Advanced matches, but I’m simultaneously preparing the team to also succeed in NeSA event in early July.I’m looking forward to seeing results of my coaching and our practice in the upcoming weeks to come in our ESEA official matches and Faceit Minor qualifiers.”

Lauri is a Philosophy Student with a Bachelor of Social Sciences. He has multiple years of experience as In-game leader within CS:GO and brings an exciting new outlook to our team.NYYRIKKI General Manager Joseph Blewitt said

“It was important that when we chose a Coach that he was of the right personality that would fit the players. We spoke to the players and overall Lauri was the favoured pick by the organisation because some of the current team have previously worked with him in teams and believed that he was the kind of leader that we needed to improve our technical game. After working with us now for more than 2 weeks he has made an instant impact on certain parts of our game and we can’t be more excited to see what happens in the future. It is great to also welcome ATL on board to help with the mental side of our game. Astralis have been performing extremely well at the moment in tier 1 and we believe a lot of that improvement has come from their mental coaching so it is a model that we wish to follow.”

This move means that NYYRIKKI now house four members in our coaching staff that will help our players reach their maximum potential.

NYYRIKKI Esports is a professional esports team based in Helsinki, Finland. The name Nyyrikki comes from the very depths of Finnish Mythology, the Kalevala. Nyyrikki is the Finnish God of hunting who ruled the hunt.